With the Phoenix Mercury recently in Chicago to play the Sky, SPMsportspage caught up with WNBA and Mercury star Diana Taurasi before the game

SPM: You really flourished under Coach Westhead’s system. You certainly have had no let up with Coach Gaines. Could you compare their coaching and your experience with Coach Auriemma at Connecticut?

DT: It’s a little bit different, a different style of play. Obviously, in Connecticut in college it was still more of learning the game, learning how to make people better, how to make your self better. So I learned that aspect the most from Coach Auriemma, how to be a really be a good teammate and a leader. And in the pros, Coach Westhead is a professional coach. He knows how to get the best out of his players. And the same with Coach Gaines, he’s a little bit more open.

SPM: To what do you attribute the Mercury’s early season struggles?

DT: You know what, early season, you may not have any time in the off season -- a few wins and losses that could have gone either way. I think all of those things kind of iron themselves out in the course of a season, whether you are going to be good or not. We showed flashes of being a good team and then we showed flashes of not being a good team, so we have to weed one of those out.